Painting of a young man in purple uniform

Where is this chap representing? He looks kind of Soviet region to me. I know Prussian and Hungarian armies wore purple uniforms sometimes.

On a side note does it look like a painting or a print? Leaning towards painting.This is my only pic on which to go.

 

Possible color has changed with time. I can't tell the medium, but clearly based on a formal photo studio portrait.

 

Oh yeh that’s true. Could have been brown? What changes to purple?

 

Maybe faded red? Although not sure a scarlet would become so blue.

 

May be a photo which has been painted over in areas.

 

The coloring of the background looks an awful lot like the background from fashion magazines of the late 1800's to me. Could be a page from some kind of publication - in which case it would be a print with possible hand painted details = ala the white flowers.

 

Interesting thought Houseful and BakersG! We shall find out soon enough. I laid down a $20 for it just because I liked the cut of his jib and the frame.

 

Depends on the size, but either a photo of a guy against a painted studio background, hand coloured, or a print of that photo.

 

Don Cossacks ?

 

White gloves and all, looks like a bellhop to me. But WDIK?

 

That was my second choice, Aaron!

 

@Figtree3

 

Thanks!
I am thinking it's a "crayon portrait" -- also known as "solar enlargement." Basically a colored-over photo print. There are articles out there about how they were made. Very popular technique in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We've mentioned them in several other threads on this site. It might not be that, since the picture isn't really clear enough in its details to tell.

As for the uniform, I'm not very good at identifying them.

 

I called you in for your photo expertise. Thanks! The militaria folks can deal with the uniform.

 

Usually you can click on an image and enlarge it, but I couldn't with this. I kind of thought the same as aaroncab. Looks like a bellhop except for the pants and boots.

 

Looks like this young man is definitely hand colored. He is about 15”x20” so I don’t imagine he was out of a magazine but I guess it could have been a large one. Close up of the hat do anything for identifying him to anyone? Some of the Cossack uniforms look close but not exact.

 

The color of the uniform looks for sure like a faded red, and it is the uniform of the Russian empire policemen (beginning of the 20th century) the position is called Gorodovoy.

 

I believe you’ve hit the Yahtzee! Spasiba!